Jan Vriend, born November 1938 in Benningbroek, The Netherlands, has lived and worked in Gloucestershire, UK since 1984. He started his career as an all-rounder: pianist, organist, clarinetist and conductor, covering a variety of styles and genres.
Ever questioning the very foundations of music, he collaborated with his late friend and colleague Jos Kunst, whose 'Making Sense in Music' was the fruit of long and serious probing into the question of how music communicates.
Perhaps best known for being the co-founder and first conductor of ASKO, which developed into the
now internationally renowned ASKO Ensemble, Jan has
been a full-time composer since the mid seventies.